"Kicking and Screaming" & Leadership -- Terry Fossum

Posted by Charles Rehberg on Nov 27, 2017

North Notes

Spokane North Rotary Club Bulletin

November 20, 2017

Briefly:

Gift deadline: The “45 for $45” holiday deadline is Monday, Dec. 4. “Sandy Claus” and her band of helpers will sort out the 45 gifts –target price of $45 for each student – and ensure that each Holmes family will have a merrier Christmas. Remember to wrap gifts and attach outside of each gift the letter designation and student name.

Duty calls: President Chad Haverkamp reminded that monthly duty changes start next week. The club has three meetings remaining at The Lincoln Center. Following the two-week holiday break, club meetings resume Jan. 8 at Nectar in Kendall Yards.

Club urges ‘Rotary Plaza’ in Riverfront Park

As work continues in Riverfront Park, our club has again resumed the concept of creating a Spokane Rotary Plaza in the Sister Cities “Connection” Garden.

Development of the Garden was postponed in May 2014 as final designs of Riverfront were finished and the Garden site was used for construction of the new ice rink, carrousel and Howard Promenade.

Parks officials now asked the Spokane Sister Cities Association Garden to continue work next spring. Plans call for the 2/3rd-of-an acre site to include a central plaza with blue-green dyed walkways to the 30-foot diameter round plaza. The color signifies global rivers.

Club Director Chuck Rehberg, also a director and past-president of the Sister Cities group, updated the plans Nov. 27. He said Spokane area Rotary clubs will be asked to match some, all, or exceed our club’s $5,000 pledge for the project. Estimates for the Spokane Rotary Plaza are about $50,000, with perhaps as much as half of that in in-kind contributions for concrete and volunteer work.

The plaza, Rehberg said, would be a focal point of Sister Cities for various gatherings, especially international guests and events. He said the peace initiatives of Rotary International and Sister Cities mesh very well. He said Club 21 International Committee members endorsed the concept unanimously Nov. 21 and forwarded the concept to that club’s civic activities committee.

Scout’s honor: Fossum gets a badge for enthusiasm

“Attitude is everything,” Terry Fossum told club members Nov.27.

And it would be hard to top the enthusiastic attitude of his well-crafted presentation for personal growth and motivation.

Fossum, formerly of Spokane-North, but now a Club 21 Rotarian, wore his scout uniform and showed how well he was to “be prepared.”

Terry won acclaim as a co-winner of the TV reality show “Kicking and Screaming,” a “Survivor”-style adventure competition which had participants swimming in a swamp to log-cutting to spear-throwing to eating worms.

Couples paired those with some survivor skills – Terry is a long-time scout master – with novices. Terry’s partner was Natalie, “a foul-mouthed, agnostic and computer game console junkie.” He found she also had been a competitive swimmer.

At his club presentation, Terry aptly wove “Kicking and Screaming” scenes into his motivation messages.

To discuss about his 10-step program on “attitude is everything,” Fossum says people have to have something to believe in, to get to know each other, to focus on the real problems, to accept that conflicts happen, to appreciate others’ strengths, to ask for help, to say it’s O.K. to fail, to look reasons to praise people, to know that loyalty starts with you and to know that communication is key.

Terry also says you have to talk with people first-hand. “Communicating is not e-mailing or texting,” he said.

Fossum’s credentials are first-rate. In the Air Force he served as the executive officer for a group of nuclear-equipped B-52 squadrons and was named Strategic Air Command humanitarian for the year. As a Scout master he represented the Boy Scouts of America on “Kicking and Screaming.”

Terry also has written four self-improvement books and continues writing, coaching seminars and other groups and has often served as a keynote speaker.

At age 52, Fossum was the oldest of the Kicking and Screaming cast, but one of the most savvy. He and Natalie split the $500,000 first prize and said the show has not yet decided about a second season.